The Sakharov Prize 2018 Awarded To Filmmaker Oleg Sentsov

Oleg Sentsov listens to a verdict as he stands at a cage in a courtroom in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. The EU has awarded the Sakharov Prize for human rights to jailed Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, it was announced on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018. ((AP Photo, File) photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

The European Parliament’s 2018 Sakharov Prize was awarded to the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov on 25th October 2018, thus celebrating the filmmaker’s courage and calling for his immediate release from prison.

A Ukrainian filmmaker from the Crimean region, Sentsov became known after his first feature film, Gaamer, shown at the 2012 International Film Festival in Rotterdam. The film tells the story of a teenager, living with his mother in the village of Simferopol, who participates in video game competitions. The film was inspired by the filmmaker’s own life and describes the difficult living conditions in a village in Crimea.

In 2014, Sentsov postponed the production of his next feature Rhino to work with the protest movement against the annexation of Crimea by Russia. He joined a pro-European movement, Automaidan. Two months after the Russian annexation of Crimea, Oleg Sentsov was arrested on 11 May 2014 in Simferopol, Crimea. He was convicted on terrorism charges and the possession of illegal firearms. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in August 2015.

Amnesty International has described the trial as "an extremely cynical show trial," in which no single piece of evidence was presented to the court that proves of what Sentsov is accused. Sentsov started a hunger strike on 14 May 2018 for the liberation of 70 political Ukrainian prisoners detained in Russia. He ended his hunger strike after 145 days in early October 2018 as a result of his critical state of health and the impending threat of force-feeding.

Sentsov has received tremendous support from the film industry community. The European Film Academy (EFA) opened a bank account to collect donations to support Oleg Sentsov and his family. The EFA has been instrumental since 2014 in raising awareness on what happened to Sentsov. A letter was sent to the Russian authorities, in co-operation with the French Film Directors’ Guild. Filmmakers around the world, such as Ken Loach, Pedro Almodovar, Agnès Varda, Jacques Audiard, David Cronenberg, Wim Wenders, co-signed this petition to the Russian authorities. Many film festivals in Europe have adopted an ‘empty chair’ idea to bring attention to Sentsov’s absence.

Through the award of the Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament hopes to put pressure on Russia to release Sentsov and other Ukrainian prisoners. The European Parliament state that "Sentsov was sentenced because he opposed the illegal and forced annexation of part of his country by its belligerent neighbor, which was a blatant violation of international law." The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Russia as a result on 14 June 2018, demanding that the Ukrainian filmmaker and all other Ukrainian citizens imprisoned in Russia be released immediately and unconditionally.

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was established in 1988 to honor annually individuals or organizations who fight to defend human rights and fundamental freedoms in and outside of the European Union. In rewarding this prize to an exceptional action made in defense of human rights, the prize thus draws attention to any violations upon these rights and supports the laureates and their cause. The prize was named after the scientist Andrei Sakharov (1922-1989). He was a nuclear physicist who worked on the hydrogen bomb in Soviet Russia. Realizing the devastating consequences the nuclear arms race could have on the future of humankind, he became an activist for disarmament. He won the Nobel Peace prize in 1975 after he founded a committee to defend human rights and victims of political trials. Considered a dissident by the USSR, he was exiled to Gorky and was refused permission to travel to Oslo to receive the Nobel prize. Previous laureates of the prize include Nelson Mandela, Alexander Dubček, the Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, and Malala Yousafzai.